We took 3 old friends on the Eagle River today and boy were they a hoot. These three gentlemen all went to school growing up together and have been friends for most of their 73 years. One moved away to Washington but still gets a good hang with his homies every year on the water. I've got good friends in the Vail Valley that I see less! Kudos to the Tres Amigos for finding time to get together and include this Vail Valley guide on their annual get-together.

We met and fished in Eagle, CO and the guys were pleased to try some new water and try their luck in the high Eagle River flows. Thankfully we chose safe wading spots and the fish were there staying out of the fast flows too. The bite was a constant puzzle today with a smattering of everything but nothing prolific. My guys could cast and cover water well and were rewarded with some solid eats but there was no consistency with the flies for the trout that made it into the net. I tied a lot of knots today. We switched up flies constantly. We started with small bugs which to my surprise didn't garnish much attention to start the day. We did fish the hole second (shout out to Will from VVA and his dad) but the way we scoured it, I felt confident the boys would be onto them quick on midges. Instead, there was a smattering of different bugs in the air towards the end of early morning, not just a steady midge hatch and only a few fish hooked on all different bugs. The hooked fish that came to hand was on the midge though.

We changed locations and kept changing bugs and continued to hook fish on all major types of Eagle River insects - midges, mayflies, caddisflies and stoneflies. I had all three clients fishing 3 different flies on their lines (9 different bugs) with nothing being the distinguished bread-winner. We kept depth and weight and kept periodically picking up fish but nothing seemed to want to make trout want to move too far out of their way for flies. Sometimes you just need to work for them and these gentlemen certainly did.

We tried one last spot not far from our second fishing spot in Eagle, CO and spent the last 30 minutes with a consistent bite but on various flies again. At least they were hungrier here and after many missed and lost fish, we put a few more notches in the belt with some lovely fish that didn't mind being coddled in the net. I still don't think there was a specific bug but we went to a location that just opened up with the water receding and I don't believe has seen much pressure at all.

All in all, the Three Amigos had a fun time, razzed each other on the stream, told old stories and added more fishing memories to the memory bank. The Eagle River fish certainly worked us today but we left victorious thanks to their endless efforts and ability to adapt. If you are out there on your own and scratching your head about what you are using, remember you can always change depth and weight before you start cutting your knots.